the stars and suns
by Verde Rosso Oro
Summary: AU. In which Rapunzel goes from princess, to stolen princess, to daughter of a psycho-witch, to a whore. Enter, Flynn Ryder. A dangerous criminal who has no idea what just happened. One minute he's bedding a woman, the next minute she threatening him with a frying pan. Welcome to the Kingdom, where dreams really do come true. Rapunzel/Flynn, some humor.
1. Prologue

**Tangled.**

**Summary: **Welcome to the real world, where heart of gold criminals save princesses from high towers. Flynningan Ryder is a dangerous criminal, Rapunzel is a girl who's too smart and too pretty, and Gothel might just be family. The crazy kind that sells you to a brothel for an eighteen year revenge plan in the making. Happy birthday Rapunzel and welcome to the feudal era.

**Chapter 1: Prolouge**

"Beth! Please come back," the queen-to-be picked up the folds of her wedding dress and ran down the castle hallway. Running past the balconies she could hear the court musicians playing lively music. Flags of purple and gold had been hung all around the city in annoucent of the prince's nuptials. Hers too. Except her matron of honor was running away. She could see the dark hair of her sister turn the hallway and she picked up the pace. "Beth!"

Her sister turned around, angry tears running down her face. "Haven't you done _enough_ already?"

"B-but Bethel, father arranged this not me!" she cried.

"Father doesn't care which one of us Joseph picked. You knew I liked him— yet you still used your charms to win him over," Bet spat at her, hands clenched at her sides. "I'm done with you, with him, with father, with pretending I'm happy for you. I _hate_ being your matron of honour."

"Beth— sister— please don't do this. I can't do this without your support." she tried to reach out for Bethel, who would have none of it. Beth slapped her hand away, stepping away.

"Oh just stop it Asra! Eighteen years I've had to listen to people praise you for your beauty, or your talent, or all those suitors out for your hand. I'm sick of being in your shadows, people seeing me as someone _less_ than you. Even Joseph when I tried— just stop following me." Beth wiped her eyes in frustration but her grey eyes teared once more. Picking up the folds of her dress Beth ran down the hallway and eventually, out of the city.

Asra did not follow.

Instead she went to her fathers guest chambers. She found him sitting with Joseph's father, her father-in-law, Hadden and Joseph, who smiled at her when she entered. The smile slipped off when he noticed her state of distress. Her veil was scrunched up in her hand, her hair slipped out of place, dry tears on her face. Standing up he put his hands of her shoulders.

"Asra?" he said softly. "Is everything alright?"

Behind her father stood up slowly. She shook her head at him and pulled him out of the room. Joseph followed behind her as she lead him to the library down the hall. He tried to talk to her but she wouldn't respond to anything. Mentioning that he should be waiting for her at the altar in an hour didn't seem to help the situation. In a corner of the library, between a bookshelf and a window she turned around to face me.

"Beth was in love with you. You knew."

"Yes, I did." Joseph breathed out slowly. "We were in the gardens, taking a walk. When we had just started courting. I didn't think I would like you as much as did but... I did. You said you were very close to your sister. So I wanted to know her too—

"You didn't tell me," Asra's blue eyes accused. "My sister is gone because she thinks I've betrayed her."

"I didn't want to be between you and your sister," Joseph took her hands in his, eyes pleading. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. Your sister is missing?"

"No!" Asra cried. "She _left_. What will father say? What if she never comes back— what if she gets hurt— oh, if only I'd known. I wouldn't have—

Joseph stepped closer, eyes hard. "You wouldn't have what? Accepted me, this proposal? Don't think that if you had backed off I would not have pursued you. And don't think that if you weren't there I would suddenly gain interest in Bethel. She is a sweet girl but I'm in love with you and in case you haven't noticed this is your _wedding_ day."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I don't want this." Asra tried to calm herself. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she tried to readjust her hair and veil. She must look terrible and she was supposed to be at the altar in less than an hour. Or should she be looking for Beth? Where would she go? This kingdom was so unfamiliar for her sister. What if she got lost? Or worse, robbed. Or killed.

Joseph's hands came to the sides of her face. "And I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. You deserved to know. I'll speak to your father and the city guards. If you want... we can move the wedding to another day."

Asra smiled, putting her arms around him. "Thank you. But no, I'll go speak with Gabrielle. My... new matron of honor. You'll tell me if the guards find anything?"

Joseph murmured a yes.

—**five years later.**

"This flower, I have never heard of it your highness." the midwife said. Her beady eyes staring at the king. "But the herbalist's words a true. It has healed your wife. Your child is healthy and the queen will live, rest assured."

Joseph breathed a sigh of relief. Nina had delivered him when he was and his brothers too, he trusted her words. The last few weeks had been hard, he'd worked every guard in the city to the ground looking for a rare golden flower. But Asra would live and so would their daughter. It had been worth it. He lifts the curtain to the bed so he may go through. Asra lays on the bed tired, sweaty, and smiling. Next two her is a baby bundled in purple, the sun drawing of is kingdom emblazoned up on it.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Asra whispers.

"She takes after her mother, no?"

Together they bring the baby to her room and lie her down to sleep in her little crip. A spinning model of suns and stars dancing above the bed, so she may see the world. But the world can be a cruel place and revenge is a bitter dish. At nightfall Asra wakes to panic but she doesn't understand why. Immediately she thinks of her baby girl and shakes Joseph to wake. But she can't wait becaue something is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Asra runs to the nursery as fast as she can. The wooden door slams open and she sees a hooded person holding her crying baby. "Let go of her!" she screams. "Guards! Guards!" The castle guards abandon posts at the sound of the screaming queen. Her husband runs faster and finds Asra struggling with strange figure. But she is still weak from childbirth and he is too far.

The cloaked figure pushed Asra to the ground. A whirl of smoke. His daughter and the kidnapper are gone. Asra weeps into the collar of Joseph's shoulder but he feels so weak, too weak, to hold her. The guards appear and then disappear to chase after the hooded figure. But it's hopeless. They ask Asra, does she remember what the man looked like? She tells them it was a woman. They ask, did she look familiar? And the answer is _yes_.

Joseph is surprised. Asra says she saw grey eyes— like her mother's.

—_Asra pulls the needle through the hankerchief slowly. She always hated needle work. So dull. Bethel sits beside her, working intently on embroidering flower petals. Their older sister had just given birth to a baby girl, now named Evelyn. Bethel scrunches up her face in disgust._

"_Terrible name, if you ask me."_

_Asra giggled lightly, she didn't like the name either. Her grandmother was of the same name, she was a wretched woman. "Don't say that to our sister, she will throw a fit. Though the name is horrid."_

_Bethel rolled her eyes. Rosa would never speak to her again if she said Evelyn is a stupid name. Evelyn was so boring and ordinary. Names should have a bit of flair, some character... some meaning. "If you should have a daughter, what would you name her?"_

"_Hmm... Clara, I think. It means light," Asra says. "And you?"_

"_...Rapunzel."_

_Brightness._


	2. Chapter 1: sins like you and me

**summary: **In which Rapunzel goes from princess, to stolen princess, to daughter of a psycho-witch, to a whore. Enter, Flynn Ryder. A dangerous criminal who has no idea what just happened. One minute he's bedding a woman, the next minute she threatening him with a frying pan. Welcome to the Kingdom, where dreams really do come true.

**disclaimer: **the tangled franchise doesn't belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter Two: **"Don't Panic."

Rapunzel: I've been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?

Flynn: Then you'll find a new dream that'll probably be equally disappointed as the first but hey - that's life, right?

* * *

You know what she really hates? Peaches. That and the fact that her mother just left her in the care of the Six Swans the "most popular brothel in all of the Seven Kingdoms" where she'll be the "most pleasurable company" that she can be. But who's complaining - she's not complaining. Nope. Not even a little bit. She's probably jumping to conclusions too. Definitely, she is.

Except, Mother's been gone for three days and Madam Sophia said she wouldn't be coming back. Rapunzel wants to so badly go downstairs and sit by the window. That way, if Mother was lost she would see Rapunzel's face and know where to find her. Except downstairs is filled with with Sophia's "girls" and their "clients" and Rapunzel really, _really_ doesn't want to know what's going on down there.

Well, that's a lie because she really, _really_ does. Every new thing she sees she wants to know more about and how can she learn anything if she's cooped up upstairs? But Madam Sophia insists that someone should explain things first. But when she asked, "Explain what?" Sophia said nothing, except that Rapunzel needed new clothes. That and the "most pleasurable company" thing. Rapunzel reluctantly agreed to new clothes, even though she's perfectly fine with the few dresses she brought from home.

More than perfectly fine with, actually. The dresses Sophia bought her are lovely but she doesn't like the tight corsets or how they're all strapless with a neckline that dips _way_ too low. And the split down the middle, covered in thin white layers of cloth make her uncomfortable. The shoes Sophia bought her are extravagant too. Rapunzel likes her old purple slip-ons, unlike her new ones, which have a million straps that wrap around her ankle.

Plus, Rapunzel knows that the silks and cottons of these dresses - with the complex beading and gold threads - were expensive. So she'd been a little shy of Sophia buying her all these things. But Sophia only looked at her curiously before saying that Rapunzel would, "Earn it all back, in time." Rapunzel wasn't - still isn't - sure what that exactly meant but shrugged it off.

And now here she is, in a beautiful red and gold dress, a busty two-days-to-eighteen blonde. Without her mother. Alone. Well, maybe not alone, _alone_. She knows Madam Sophia and even some of the girls. She even shares a room with one of them, Colette and on Thursday she spent the day with Scarlet and Anamaria. But it's not the same. She misses her mother. Even the idea of being able to see the lights in two days couldn't cheer her up.

Maybe... maybe after the lights, she should head back to the tower?

Yes! That's exactly what she would do. Mother would be surprised but happy, right? Mother probably thought she wanted to live in the Kingdom and after the fight they had Mother probably thought she wanted to live in the Kingdom _without_ her. That must be it. Well, she would go back to home and show Mother that she won't leave the tower - not if it's without Mother. And Rapunzel just... won't mention the part where she waited to see the lights first. She'd been waiting for _years_ to see them after all.

— **two days later.**

"And that's how I lost Tweedledee and Tweedledum," Flynn laughs. His friends, Jenkins, Happy, and Flint around the table laughing with him. They'd been having drinks at the Three Stooges since he arrived in the Kingdom's capital, Caldera, three hours ago. And of course, he had the lost princesses crown in hand.

"So let me get this straight," Jenkins slurred, his hook-hand coming to rest on the table. "Ye' and them Stabbington brothers took the crown, escaped the guards, only fer ye to lose the brothers and bring the crown _back_ to the city?"

"Yeah, that uh — that sounds about right." Flynn smirked. "I swear, I'm not going crazy. I've got a buyer lined up and everything."

"Must be real shiny, that crown," Flint said, touching his fingers to his chin. "You have it on you?"

Flynn snorted. "Right, because I'd bring something worth fifty million million jewels to a den of thieves."

Happy laughed into his mug of beer. "Aw c'mon Flynn, we ain't so bad."

"You just lifted three jewels from my pocket," Flynn deadpanned. Happy denied doing anything of the sort. Lucky for him, he was saved by the bar's doors being slammed open, revealing the brothel madam of Rosa in Viera and her girls. He recognizes most of them — which says a lot about his character — There's Scarlet, Rosetta, Mia, Ana, and - hello, a new girl?

Blonde, petite, young. Definitely looking out of place. Got that whole innocence look going for her. Eh, not really his style. He likes girls — _women_ — like Scarlet; a lot of curves, a lot of charm, and a lot of fun. She's a redhead to boot. He's got a thing for redheads. Scarlett feels his gaze and winks at him playfully. And what can he do but give her _the smolder_. She laughs a little and gives him _the come hither_.

Well, he knows what he's doing tonight.

Except when the stumble into his room above the tavern things go a little different. As in, Scarlet stops kissing him and they're both still fully clothed. Apparently, this had all been a ruse to get him alone so she could ask him a favour. And he's okay with doing a favour for her because he likes Scarlet in an honest way, not just a whoring way (and the fact that a whore is his closest confidant says a lot about his character too). The problem isn't the asking for a favour or that she just slipped fifty jewels out of his pocket, it's what she's asking him to do.

"You want me to _what_?"

"Oh come on Flynnie," Scarlet drawls in a southern accent. "It's not like I'm asking anything big. It's just, this is Rapunzel - oh sorry, I mean it's Lulu's first time."

"I get that, I really do." Flynn said. "What I don't get is why you're asking me to do it?"

"You know why. These men will be all manner o' rough with her, and when I ask you to be gentle, I know you will." Scarlet pouted. "I can trust you."

"Oh no, no, no. You do _not_ get to play the trust card. Nope. Nu-uh. Not happening."

Scarlet put her hands to her hips, eyes narrowing. "And just why the hell not? She's pretty enough, ain't she?"

"She's plenty pretty," Flynn admitted. "Except I'll be there, going down on her, thinking: is this pity sex? This feels like pity sex. And when I'm not thinking that, I'll be thinking: I'm fucking a girl whose mother sold her to a brothel five days ago. I didn't think it was possible but I might've just reached a new low."

"My mamma sold me to the Six Swans and you have no problem goin' down on me," Scarlet retorted.

"You'd been in the business three years when I met you!" Flynn cried. "Some asshole stole your innocence and corrupted you or whatever and I just -

"And you just _what _exactly?" Scarlet hissed.

Flynn sighed. He was going to have to do this, wasn't he? Yep, he was going to have to this.


End file.
